Law & order

With life-changing fortunes at stake it is no wonder that practices like claim-jumping, under-mining and night-fossicking were common on the goldfields. Each of these practices was a way of getting at gold that was not your own.

Officials like Redmond Barry praised the good behaviour of miners on the whole and noted the small number of serious crimes he had to deal with in his first circuit court. However it is likely that many instances of violence would have gone unobserved or unreported, especially on newly-rushed fields. Many others would have been dealt with by the men involved. Diaries tell a story of routine violence and robbery that is not reflected in the official records.

Gold Commissioners were in charge of issuing licences and keeping order, but diggers often needed to act without the delay of involving authorities. Seweryn Korzelinski, a Polish miner, describes being enlisted to help some Dutch friends:

We heard a commotion next night and went to the Dutch tent. They had one bushranger tied up with ropes, his head split open with a pickhandle and the other bushranger was dead. The Dutch boys told us that they had spent the night behind their beds instead of on them and when the strangers armed with knives entered, surprised them with a sudden attack. The dead man was unceremoniously buried and the other handed over to the police commissioner.

Korzelinski, S 1979, Memoirs of gold-digging in Australia; translated and edited by Stanley Robe ; foreword and notes by Lloyd Robson University of Queensland Press, QLD.

The lure of the Gold Escort, sometimes carrying hundreds of kilograms of gold, was another temptation for professional bushrangers. The most successful of these attacks was made in 1853 on the escort between Heathcote and Kyneton. A large group of men shot four of the escort and made off with 2000 ounces (60 kilograms) of gold. Only three were eventually captured and hanged. The gold was never recovered.

Miners warned thieves they were armed by 'shooting off'; firing the day’s round from a pistol before bedtime. The process was described by many as annoying, foolish and dangerous:

These dilletantes [...] send the bullets in all directions, even into other miners' tents. Sleeping miners have been killed by stray bullets. I nearly had it happen to me in Bendigo. By the sound of the passing bullet I knew it was close to my head for it did not moan like a high flying shot, rather it whispered by and suddenly the sound ceased as the bullet hit the ground.

Korzelinski, S 1979, Memoirs of gold-digging in Australia; translated and edited by Stanley Robe ; foreword and notes by Lloyd Robson University of Queensland Press, QLD.

Today, lead shot litters the former goldfields of Victoria, causing many 'false positives' for those with modern metal detectors looking for gold nuggets.

What we would now call 'domestic violence' is remarked upon by many at the time and often the trigger was alcohol. Samuel Lazarus relates an incident between a butcher and his new wife: 'The wife's face and hands smeared with blood from the man's brutality and the coarse language from both was most disgusting.'

The amount of liquor on the gold fields meant that brawls were a common occurrence. A policy of prohibition on the fields was put in place but with little effect. Police had the right to burn down the tents of liquor sellers and issue heavy fines. Liquor was seen by many as medicinal, particularly good for those working in wet conditions underground.